Week of Champions back under new leadership

File photo Young athletes complete an agility drill on the Bluffton High School practice field at the 2012 Week of Champions football clinic.

File photo Appalachian State assistant coach Mark Ivey, left, directs a drill during last year's Week of Champions football clinic at Bluffton High School.

Week of Champions has brought in professional athletes to work with area children and share their faith for the last 35 years.

But last summer, officials were not sure if the annual free sports camp would continue. Longtime director Gary Wetherington had to step down because of health issues and several other board members retired.

The remaining board members found a way to keep Week of Champions going last fall, as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes agreed to run the event. Chuck Workman, the FCA’s area representative, was named camp director.

This year’s Week of Champions clinics will be held Monday through Friday for children ages 8-12. The week begins at 5:30 p.m. today with a free concert at First Baptist Church of Hilton Head Island.

“We did a lot of prayer and heartfelt thinking,” Week of Champions board member Cary Corbitt said. “I’ve always felt FCA was a perfect venue because it has a continual ministry that goes into our schools.”

With Workman at the helm, Corbitt said, FCA can integrate its faith-based programs into the Week of Champions schedule. Workman said each clinic will begin and end this year with a “jam session,” in which instructors discuss their relationships with God and provide campers with a daily Bible verse.

“Our mission statement is to impact the world for Jesus Christ, and this allows us to do that on a platform where kids love to be,” Workman said. “We like to say that FCA camps are a time for inspiration and perspiration.”

Corbitt hopes the relationships FCA forms with campers will continue into the fall, as the organization has chapters at individual schools.

“Week of Champions is only one week in June,” Corbitt said. “Now, (FCA) can continue ministering to these kids. This is a perfect blending of two wonderful programs.”

All clinics in Bluffton, Hilton Head and Ridgeland will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Bluffton High School will host football, soccer and cheerleading Monday and Tuesday, and baseball and basketball Wednesday and Thursday. Golf clinics will be held Friday at Hilton Head Lakes and Palmetto Dunes’ Arthur Hills Golf Club.

Hilton Head Island High School hosts football, soccer and cheerleading Monday and Tuesday, and baseball, basketball and tennis Wednesday and Thursday.

Football and baseball clinics will be held Monday and Tuesday at the Boys and Girls Club of Jasper County in Ridgeland.

Michael Waltrip Racing Team will have a car and NASCAR pit crew provide a demonstration from 1:30-4 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Head Christian Academy.

The annual banquet is at 6 p.m. at the Sonesta Resort in Shipyard Plantation. The guest speaker will be former Arkansas and Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Workman said the instructors will include former professional pitcher Chad Ogea, Atlanta Dream team chaplain Theresa Gernatt, former Detroit Lions linebacker Antonio London and Indianapolis Colts cornerback Josh Gordy.

Wetherington helped found Week of Champions with the Atlanta Falcons’ Greg Brezina and saw the program grow from about 50 campers to more than 2,000.

Today’s concert and the NASCAR demonstration are new events, but Workman said FCA doesn’t want to change the spirit of the event the founders developed over 35 years.

“We’ve been working closely with them to continue the legacy they started,” Workman said. “This is the only free clinic in FCA and it’s the largest FCA sports camp in the country.”